Future Uncertain

Change is never easy

Hauptmann Rico, Leftenant Cruickshank, SGM Hawkwood and Dr Schwinghammer are enroute to the last train depot on the rail line to investigate the deliveries of mass amounts of construction material to unknown buyers when the SGM and Dr notice that the Hauptmann is clearly not at his best. After assessing the situation, it is clear that Rico must have immediate medical attention. The team diverts to the nearest hospital in Paulus Springs where he undergoes emergency appendectomy.

After determining that Hauptmann Rico is safe and will be transferred to Deventer University Medical Center in the morning (and ensuring that he and his room will be covered in pink clothes, sheets, decorations and flowers), the diminished team adjourns to a local tavern for some relaxation and recon. While there, the SGM sees a group of young men, one of whom is clearly not meant to be wasted as a farmer. So, in classic SGM style, he rids the bar of the young man’s friends and then lets Dr Schwinghammer and Lt Cruickshank do some recruiting. The boy and his parents agree to let him accompany the team for the next few days.

23 September 3041
End of the Line
Wastelands of Derf

Lt Cruickshank having contacted the unit and arranged for 4 mech warriors to transport his, the SGM’s and 2 other mechs (Lt Dorn’s Hunchback and Cpl MacIndeor’s Griffin) to the rail station to rendesvous with the team, they set out to the rail station.

At the rail station, Lt Cruickshank conducts interviews with the Chief and Foreman and is able to determine the location where all of the construction materials seem to be headed. So, with mechs, they head out to the abondoned strip mine at the Irian Metal Works where they find the Red Scarab busy doing who knows what.

Although Lt Cruickshank tries to open lines of communication, it is apparent that the Red Scarab is set on battle—big mistake for the Red Scarab. The team is able to quickly subdue any resistance by destroying a Phoenix Hawk PXH-1, Wolverine WVR-6R, Warrior H-7A (helicopter), Striker and Vedette (tanks) and one barracks building, while only suffering 2 criticals to the Hunchback (Dr Schwinghammer will be very busy trying to fix this one.) The team also captured (quarantined) a Vulcan VT-5L, Shadow Hawk SHD-2H, Hunter (LRM 10 version), Scimitar, LRM Carrier and SRM Carrier.

With that, a truly brutal pt session was underway. Even 2nd Co’s fittest were on the verge of collapse by the time SGM called an end to the combat run and gave everyone 10 minutes to form up on the pitch for a game of football.

The superior fitness of 2nd Co proved to be the difference in the match along with the long, fast arms of Cpl Zoepfl who played a great game in goal.

Sgt Dundas was less than thrilled about collecting 2nd Co’s smelly pt gear, but collect it he did. And returned it all nice and fresh to SGM Hawkwood.

This morning’s session was just a little less brutal than yesterday’s. A few members from each Co came perilously close to drowning during the water polo match, but 1st Co triumphed in the end.

SGM Hawkwood was stone-faced when he collected the 1st Co’s pt gear. Overseeing the washing, drying, ironing and folding into perfect 6 inch squares, he was less stoic to the chagrin of all of 2nd Co. 2nd Co’s members weren’t sure what was worse, cleaning somebody else’s dirty drawers, SGM Hawkwood’s beratement, or the smug look on the faces of 1st Co when they individually delivered the cleaned pt gear.

DATE: 28 May 3041

“Good morning, SGM! I could get used to having my jock ironed,” Sgt Dundas says with a smirk.

With a growl, SGM Hawkwood calls a beginning to the day’s pain.

Two days of SGM style pt had clearly taken its toll on 1st Co. Several members fell out during the combat run. Then 2nd Co easily defeated them in sparring contests, winning 7 matches to 2. Sgt Dundas had to be physically restrained by his juniors after Sgt Masrani slammed a 1st Co tech to the ground with such force that the medics had to carry him back to the infirmary. By the time Sgt Dundas arrived to pick up the pt gear, he had calmed down just enough to keep from having a go at the SGM.

DATE: 29 May 3041

2nd Co easily beat 1st Co in dodgeball in 3 straight matches. Sgt Dundas said nothing when picking up or dropping off the laundry.

DATE: 30 May 3041

2nd Co was tired, sore and extremely proud after completing the Dirty Word relay. Only 3 from 1st Co finished, the rest refused to continue, and 2 had to seek medical treatment.

SGM Hawkwood dismissed 2nd Co for the day and informed Sgt Dundas that 1st Co could report to 2nd Co’s repair bay to begin cleaning in 90 minutes. “Once that Mech bay is spotless, you can start on our barracks.”

No one saw SGM Hawkwood show any hint of emotion, but he thoroughly enjoyed watching 1st Co stiffly limp around and groan while cleaning up after his lancers.

A new hot shot technician

28 May 3041
Fort Karlheinz
Tamar
Tamar March
Federated Commonwealth

After another grueling morning PT session, Sergeant Omar Masrani confronts Sergeant Major John Hawkwood that his murderous PT is doing nothing for his technicians. He is also none to pleased with the Sergeant Major’s enforcement of the new FedCom ranks, which Masrani finds offensive to his Steiner history. Calmly, the Sergeant Major hears the Sergeant out… carefully evaluating the Sergeant’s arguments, to which the senior sergeant barks across the desk that Sergeant Masrani needs to get with the program, that the FedCom is here to stay. Taken back by Sergeant Major’s retort, Sergeant Masrani slinks out of the Sergeant Major’s office, tail between his legs.

That’s the last straw, Masrani thinks to himself, I’ve got 30 years in the LCAF, I’m up for retirement, I don’t have to take this FedCom bullshit. And Sergeant Major Hawkwood can just see how well a Battlemech works when there aren’t enough techs to keep it up, I wonder how long he’ll yell at a broken ’Mech…

Leftenant Upala Sunther knocks on Hauptmann Manno Rico‘s door. “Enter.” "Hauptmann, we’ve got a problem. Sergeant Omar Masrani just exercised his retirement option. We’re down both a Sergeant and a very experienced technician."

The Hauptmann replied, “Great. His timing couldn’t be better – as you’re well aware the technician pool is thin at the moment as First Battalion is going through a major refit. There’s no one immediately available to replace him. Perhaps we can promote from within? Corporal ”/characters/line-rokstad" class=“wiki-content-link”>Line Rokstad has been doing a good job recently."

“Hauptmann, I think you’ve hit on the solution. Not only can we promote Corporal Rokstad, but RCT command has brought in a legion of contractors to expedite 1st Battalion’s refit. I’m sure Defiance Industries would be more than happy to assign a civilian to us,” interjected Leftenant Sunther. “I’ll go inform the technicians of the Sergeant’s retirement. Could you handle letting the contract to Defiance?”

“Sure, I’ll have Leftenant ”/characters/mael-collum-cruicksank" class=“wiki-content-link”>Mael Collum Cruickshank head over to Central Warehouse to let the contract. What do you think about promotion ceremony for Rokstad – say 1830 in the barracks common?" replied Hauptmann Rico.

Leftenant Mael Collum Cruickshank sat in a rather oppulant office by military standards. As he looked around at the new furniture, paint and noteputers, he couldn’t help but think that Defiance Industries had too much money to throw around. He wondered how much of the RCT’s maintenance budget was going to ‘overhead’ expenses He had tried to catch Sergeant Masrani after he resigned from the AFFC, to see if he could retain the Sergeant’s services to support Battle Lance when Sergeant Major Hawkwood wasn’t looking, but the new AFFC was a lot more efficient than the LCAF about getting people off base and clearances revoked when they retire or otherwise leave the service. By the time he’d heard of the Sergeant’s retirement, the Sergeant was already off base with clearances revoked – damned Davion bureaucrats. So here he was, on bended knee, begging a civilian contractor for tech support.

The sales rep sat down across the desk from the Leftenant. Escuing military protocols, the civilian was dressed in a golf shirt and khakis, clearly trying to demonstrate life was better in the private sector than the armed forces. What a prick. The negotiations were short and proforma, thankfully the Department of the Quartermaster had crafted Defiance Industries contract language to enable rapid and easy deployment of their staff into front line support units. After signing the contract release, the sales rep introduced the Leftenance to Fredrick Schwinghammer, who would be assigned to 2nd Company’s tech team.

Leftenant Mael Collum Cruickshank lead Fredrick Schwinghammer into the Company’s Battlemech hanger. Spotting Sergeant Major John Hawkwood, he directed his charge to report to the Sergeant Major. As the new civilian approached the Sergeant Major, a deafening bang was heard from across the hanger as a hip armor plate hit the floor. Frederick excused himself from the combat Sergeant to assist Corporal Connor MacRory repairing the Phoenix Hawk’s hip. As soon as the civilian was out of earshot, the Sergeant Major summoned Private Fenella Ivet to give her assessment of the civilian’s tool chest. Picking the lock, Fenella was incredibly impressed the quality and technology contained. “There are tools in there that I didn’t know existed…” she gasped. ‘Damn’ thought the Sergeant Major, ‘ripping the Sergeant a new one may have been the best decision I’ve made since I got here…’

Corporal Kieran Scott jumped out of her rack as her PT alarm rang. As she quickly got her PT gear on, she looked over at her new roommate, Fredrick Schwinghammer, who merely mumbled something and rolled over. “Frederick, you need to get down on the line, the Sergeant Major is not one to cross,” she advised the new technician. “Hmmpfph…. I’m not in the military… going back to sleep.”

From behind her shoulder, “Corporal, you’re late,” calmly, but authoratively the Sergeant Major reminded her. The Corporal stiffened to attention, “yes, Sergeant Major. On my way now.” She sprinted down the stairs, releaved that the Sergeant Major didn’t feel the need to reinforce the importance of punctuality.

“I see from your CV that you did a tour in the AFFS, private, so you’re familar with PT and how it works. Also, your contract has you fully embeded in our operations and part of our chain of command,” the Sergeant Major gently enlightened the civilian.

“Can I see that contract?” replied the technician. Scanning the contract, “yep, you’re right, Sergeant Major. Do you have any PT gear I can borrow?”

“Last night before 10 days on alert,” toasted Leftenant Mael Collum Cruickshank to Sergeant Major John Hawkwood, Sergeant Nya Coleman and Fredrick Schwinghammer. “Here, here,” replied the Sergeant Major, “I’ll get the next 3 rounds.” About 3 hours later, Sergeant Coleman guides stumbling, vomit-faced CO to a waiting cab while the Sergeant Major and Frederick drunkenly hit on a couple of other patrons. “Thank goodness I stopped drinking after the second round…”

13 June 3041
Tamar
Tamar March
Federated Commonwealth

Alarm klaxons chimed throughout 2nd Company’s Hanger, “Alert ’Mechs scrammble, dust off in 3 minutes.” Battle Lance strode out of the hanger and loaded onto the Southern Dawn. As the Union dropship rose off the pad, the Duty Sergeant briefed Leftenant Farros Dorn, “Approximately 15 minutes ago, a Mule class dropship made scheduled arrival at a small industrial dropport, but instead of unloading metal ingots, 4 battlemechs and 4 combat vehicles deployed from the ship. Ground forces callsign is ‘Strike.’ There are 2 orbiting ASF, callsign ‘Angel.’ We expect to arrive in the area in 30 minutes. Expect ‘Angel’ to provide tactical intelligence update en route.”

“We are about 5 minutes out,” called the Dropship captain. “Angel reports 2 medium ’Mechs and a hover tank broke off and raided a chemical plant. 2 medium ’Mechs, 2 tracked tanks and 1 wheeled tank formed a defensive perimeter around the Mule.”

“With the combat units in the dropport, we won’t be able to land,” Lefteant Dorn announced to his MechWarriors. “We’re going to execute a low altitude drop, attempting to block the hover tank and ’Mechs returning from the raid. We will be dropping into an industrial zone, watch what you shoot as industrial facilities tend to not react well to bullets.”

Training Operation Evaluation

Date: May 25, 3041

Allied Forces: 3rd Battalion 2nd Company (12 mechs)

Opposing Forces: 3rd Battalion 1st Company (12 Mechs)

Evaluator: Hauptmann Manno Rico

Purpose:

To test and evaluate newly formed maneuver company meant to utilize hybrid Davion-Lyran tactics against an OpFor utilizing standard Lyran tactics. Pilot performance, Mech performance, and tactical usage of lances were all considered in the evaluation.

Satisfactory Performances:

Manno Rico in his WVR-6M adeptly kept pace with the rest of his command lance, finding a high quality location to providing covering fire. Two mechs eliminated. Rico recorded the only headshot.

Battle Lance is recognized for its performance in spearheading the assault and withstanding heavy fire from two Assault Class battlemechs. John Hawkwood performed exceptionally well with three kill shots.

Laria MacIndeor adeptly preserved her mech after taking a focused fire attempt from the enemy.

Resulting Actions:

Effective immediately, the following pilots are to log 1 hour extra simulation time per week to work on operating weapons systems: Katlyn Kapitan, Egbert Zoepfl, Nya Coleman, Darcia MacKissack.

Effective immediately, Leo Kleinschmidt will spend the next two weeks logging 1 hour extra simulation time to work on proper drop landing technique.

Final Comments:

Overall, 2nd company showed a satisfactory performance in our first outing. We utilized tactics to establish an effective firing platform against an OpFor that was dug in and contained superior firepower and durability. I expect all officers and the Sergeant Major to participate in a discussion about the various minor performance tweaks required to meet the established doctrine for 2nd company.

Congratulations on the victory and a well-deserved weekend off, you earned it.

Leftenant Upala Sunther stared at the exposed myomer of Sergeant Major John Hawkwood Cataphract 1X. Fenella Ivet had been exploring the Sergeant Major’s ‘Mech again, third time since it arrived earlier this week. A product of recently captured Tikonov, few in the former Lyran Commonwealth had seen the new Davion heavy unit. Arriving from Caph along with its pilot, the company’s Sergeant Major, the oddly shapped ’Mech was the subject of much discussion among the various Technical Teams. None more than Fenella though – as soon as it came off the transport, she was climbing along its arms, commenting on how it looked like a Maurader, Pheonix Hawk and Shadow Hawk had a rough night together with too many beers.

Private Ivet was climbing down from the ’Mech’s shoulder, her jump suit covered in grease, oil and yellow coolant. The dirt and grim on her face revealed that yet again, in her eagerness to work on the new ‘Mech, she forgot her protective gear. "Private, why are the Sergeant Major’s shoulder armor plates on the ground and where is your safety gear?" boomed Leftenant Sunther.

Unphased by her commander’s questions and lost in her own world of gears, manifolds and circuit boards, Fenella replied, “Leftenant, did you know that they built her with stainless steel braided coolant lines instead of polyethylene? It makes the coolant system more resistant to battle damage, but sacrfices cooling efficency. Also makes it a lot harder to replace the lines and thread them through 100 mm ammo feed.”

Sighing to herself, Upala grinned at the younger, energetic technician. “I know, its an interesting design choice. Let’s get our gear on and put the shoulder armor back together before the Sergeant Major hits the hanger.”

“That’ll do it,” announced Corporal Line Rokstad to Private Hua Dan. “By swapping out the carbon steel bearings for alloy 34, the joints will be able to take more stress during high speed operations. It will also undo about 30 years of wear and tear on the ’Mech.” Pleased with their work and all that the more experienced Tech had show him, Hua walked over of the Company Status Board and upgraded the status of Fire Lance’s Centurion.

Sergeant Carin Lindholm wiped sweat from her brow. Three days she had been tearing down the Griffin GRF-1S to convert it a custom job the Hauptmann had dubbed the 1E. She had tried to warn Leftenant Sunther that the conversion was not simple and while it would make the Griffin more durable in combat, stripping out nearly the entire weapons load out was a true pain in the ass. The Technical Commander had assured her that the Sergeant Major and Leftenant Dorn were aware of the size of the job and risk of overheating the new design would have, but she wasn’t certain.

Ripping the last of the LRM ammo belt out of the torso of the stripped, she cursed as she caught one of the fiber optic bundles, tearing about half the bundle. “The problem with these custom refits, nothing is in the right place anymore…” She had thought about taking her concerns to Hauptmann Manno Rico, but the 2 letters of reprimand in her file reminded her of how close she was to getting bounced from her dream job. Perhaps challenging the new company commander wasn’t the best idea. For now…

Hauptmann Manno Rico reflected on the last 12 hours. They had been pretty interesting and will give the company sergeants something to tell stories about for years. It started the night before, when Laria MacIndeor, Quan-Thuong Kvamsdal, Sean MacKimmie and Edda “Ed” Sampras had popped into his barracks office to inform him that they were heading into Tamar City for the evening. Seeing how Laria was dressed and that Quan-Thoung and Ed have a reputation for knowing every seedy location in the city, he should have seen the resulting morning coming. About 0230 his communicator had chirpped, with a call from the Security Center’s Duty Sergeant, informing him that 2 of his pilots and 1 of Leftenant Upala Sunther’s Technicians had been returned to the Fort by the Tamar City police after an altercation with local gang members. After discussion the situation with the Duty Sergeant, Manno elected to let the troops cool their jets in the Security Center and noted that he would let Leftenant Upala Sunther know where her Tech was in the morning, no need to wake her.

At 0800, Hauptmann Rico bumped into Sergeant Leo Kleinschmidt, whom he tasked with retrieving their wayward Company mates. The sergeant took the expected glee and sped off across base in the 2 seater jeep assigned to the company, being certain he left the larger van behind, ensuring the offending soldiers had a nice 2 mile walk ahead of them.

Turning to head to the cafe for some Sunday breakfast, the Hauptmann caught sight of Corporal Quan-Thuong Kvamsdal, who had left the base last night with the 3 troopers in Security, but was now returning with her shoes in hand. After interrogating the Corporal in his office, he had determined that she was not part of mess the other three had gotten into, but had some fun of her own. He did not let her know that the others didn’t make it back to the barracks yet, which was quickly confirmed when the Corporal let out a curse that rattled throughout the building.

Upon his return from the Security Center, Hauptmann Rico requested that Sergeant Kleinschmidt locate Sergeant Major John Hawkwood and inform him that a special Sunday edition of his now infamous PT was in order. Relishing the opportunity, all four company sergeants drove the MechWarriors and Technicians hard to clear their heads of booze and bruises.

While the Sergeant Major had the enlisted personnel running suicides between along the parade grounds, Leftenant Upala Sunther visited the Hauptmann to discuss if the heavy PT was really beneficial to the Technical team. Of course, during their discussion, MechWarrior Edda “Ed” Sampras and Corporal Sean MacKimmie both vomitted from the Sergeant Major’s workout, to which the Hauptmann commented to the Leftenant that all puke is the same. Understand his point, she returned to her office to complete inventorying the heavy weapons.

Eleven exhausted Technicians and 9 spent MechWarriors dragged themselves into the barracks common area. The four company sergeants were clearly tired, but spent their last bit of energy making sure no one saw it. Once the sergeants retired to the quarters level, MechWarrior Katlyn Kapitan confronted MechWarrior Sampras, “if you ever do that again…” as she clocked him to give him a second, matching black eye. Sensing an opportunity, Hauptmann Rico entered the common area from his office and reminded Katlyn that a company treats its wounded, after giving her an approving wink for handling the situation.

Connor MacRory grinned at Dean Roberts, “Line and Hua aren’t the only two that can reinvigorate an old ‘Mech. Getting fresh myomer bundles in to Battle Lance’s Centurion will make this old girl drive like she was fresh off the line.” Dean rushed over to the status board and noted the improved readiness of the Centurion.

“Hand me that splicer,” Carin Lindholm ordered Kieran Scott. Carin reconnected the data cables she can snagged 2 weeks prior when refitting the Griffin to an energy weapons only load out. “Private, here’s where you have to be very careful, and just put enough force on the splicer to secure the fiber optics without damaging the internal glass. Power up the PPC for me.” Carin inspected the fiber optic bundle as Kieran charged the PPC’s capacitor, as the weapon’s power came to full, her diagnostic PADD showed data being transferred between the PPC and the BattleROM. “Shut her down, everything’s back to the way it was supposed to be, before we started messing with all her systems.”

Hauptmann Manno Rico stared down at his roast beef sandwich, but wasn’t hungry. Butterflies danced in his stomach as the hours counted down to his first combat command. Well, it wasn’t really combat, it was a training op against the heavier 1st Company, but it was still going to be his first actual field command of a company. Very different than the hundreds of hours logged commanding his MechWarriors in the simulator.

Snapping him out of his trance, Hauptmann Connor Bleazard, pulled up a chair across from Hauptmann Rico. Hauptmann Bleazard was his usual smug self, not that 1st Company hadn’t earned it, being the top rated company in the battalion since the end of the War of 3039. Bleazard was clearly confident that his well trained, well drilled troops where more than a match for Rico’s upstarts. “So are you ready for tomorrow, Hauptmann?” Bleazard asked.

“Troops are drilled, ‘Mechs are prepped. We’re ready. So what color did they load into your ammo bins?” replied Manno.

“Orange, I think. Yours?”

“Blue, but Private ”/characters/hua-dan" class=“wiki-content-link”>Hua Dan has this nasty tendency to replace them with pink or purple ones."

“How about a little wager then? If 1st Company achieves it’s objective, my Company Sergeant ”/characters/tony-dundas" class=“wiki-content-link”>Tony Dundas runs your PT for a week; if 2nd Company achieves it’s objective, Sergeant Major Hawkwood runs my PT for a week?"

“Sounds fair, you’re on,” replied Hauptmann Rico.

Grid Square 36-056TamarTamar MarchFederated Commonwealth25 May 3041

Sergeant Leo Kleinschmidt grimmaced after the high altitude drop from the Southern Dawn. He had missed his landing zone and hit the ground hard, doing damage to his Pheonix Hawk. “Great,” he thought to himself, “training op with powered down weapons and paint rounds and I’m coming home with actual damage. I’m not sure who to be more afraid of, the Sergeant Major and Sergeant Lindholm for actually breaking a ’Mech on a training op.”

Grid Square 36-055TamarTamar MarchFederated Commonwealth25 May 3041

A cheer went up across the open company comms as 2nd Company drew first blood against 1st Company, dropping a Thunderbolt 5SS. The opening seconds of the engagement had been difficult for 2nd Company as 1st Company had arrived several hours earlier and established a strong defensive position.

1st Company aligned all four of its heavy battle lance ‘Mechs in a shallow pond in the middle of the grid square. The improved performance of their heat sinks allowed 1st Company’s Battle Lance to fire their weapons with little regard for heat management and it showed. Leftenant Dorn and Sergeant Major Hawkwood had to use a low hill for cover from the relentless barrage from 1st Company’s assault ’Mechs. Their advance had bogged down as Leftenant Dorm and Sergeant Major Hawkwood tried to figure out how to get behind the big guns of the assault ’Mechs.

Not that Hauptmann Rico’s and Leftenant Cruickshank‘s was going much better. Trying to use a stream and rolling hills for cover, they attempted to flank 1st Company, but were met with withering LRM fire from 1st Company’s Fire Lance. The battle was devolving into a war of attrition, which the heavier 1st Company would most certainly win.

“Tyrant, Hawk,” Hauptmann Rico’s tactical comms crackled. “There’s only a Clint and Griffin 1N between us and objective. Going to blitz and attempt to break contain.” It was an aggressive call from the Sergeant Major, charging over the hill that was providing cover from 1st Company’s heaviest units, to bring direct fire to bear on 2 lighter units and breaking the line. But sitting here trading shots was not going to end well.

Cresting the hill, 1st Company’s Battlemaster, Stalker and Orion unloaded on the Sergeant Major’s Cataphract, registering a kill, but not before the maneuver succeeded in downing the Griffin and Clint, opening a gap in 1st Company’s line. Quickly analyzing the tactical situation, Leftenant Dorn realized that the remains of Battle and Fire Lances didn’t have enough speed to sprint through the gap in the line and achieve the objective before 1st Company could shred them from behind. He wheeled his advance left, “focus fire, target the Stalker.” Another high risk call from the western side of the battle, Leftenant Dorn was driving his unit right into the teeth of 1st Company, hoping to eliminate the heaviest hitter on the field.

1st Company poured fire into Leftenant Dorn’s command, generating more heat than even there submerged heat sinks could handle. 2nd Company gave as good as they got, downing the Stalker and and pealing away the Orion’s armor.

On the opposite side of the field, 1st Company deployed their light elements to prevent Hauptmann Rico’s flanking. Contained between heavy LRM fire, terrain and light ‘Mechs gaining position, Hauptmann Rico aligned his Wolverine to 1st Company’s Archer and releases an Alpha Strike against the missile boat. Delivering punishing fire to the Archer, the Wolverine’s weapons find the Archer’s cockpit, registering a 1 shot kill.

Having eliminated half of 1st Company’s ’Mechs to their 4, Hauptmann Bleazard calls Rico over the open comm channel to declare 2nd Company victorious. From his shutdown Cataphract, Sergeant Major Hawkwood smiles to himself, dreaming up new and exciting exercises to put 1st Company through next week.